Anandashram, Kanhangad

Anandashram (English translation = "Abode of Bliss") is a spiritual retreat located in Kanhangad, a city and a municipality in Kasaragod district in the Indian state of Kerala."[3] While in Bombay, Swami Ramdas wrote to Anandrao (his brother in Kasaragod) "expressing a wish to have an Ashram in that place on the Pilikunji hill.[4] A small Ashram consisting of a tiny room and an open veranda was constructed upon the hill, to the south of which flowed the Payashwini river.This is a place where every effort will be made to cultivate the spirit of mutual love and service, so that what is realized within its walls may prove as an example for the right conduct of human life in outside world."[12] Anandashram is located at a junction on the national highway approximately 5 km from the city of Kanhangad in Kasaragod district, Kerala.Around the time of India's independence, visitors speak of an uphill ride in a bullock cart through a sparsely-populated countryside from the Kanhangad railway station to reach Anandashram.Swami Ramdas believed that at one time the Manjapati hill was covered by a thick forest in which sadhus and sanyasins performed austerities.Butani, an early devotee of Swami Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai, said of the Ashram in 1946 continues to hold true: "There is only one condition for stay in that Ashram: there is a bell rung four times a day when, wherever you be, whatever you be engaged in you must drop and run to the dining hall for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner; for the rest, you may go in for any study you like or for any Sadhana you please.Anandashram gives free breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner to all devotees who stay in the hostels inside the Ashram and also to all casual visitors.The path from the arch to the main gate of the Ashram is lined by tall Polyalthia longifolia (or false Asoka) trees that create a dense wall on either side.Several years ago, Papa Ramdas, sitting on an Asan in the centre of the Bhajan Hall, used to have a direct view right up to the main road.It was here that Papa Ramdas and Mataji lived with a handful of devotees in those early days of the Ashram, and it was the launch pad for their unique mission of Universal Love and Service.On the walls of the bhajan hall one can see pictures of several saints and sages, including those of Jesus Christ, Zoroaster, Guru Nanak, Shirdi Sai Baba, Anandamayi Ma, and Jiddu Krishnamurti.A portrait in standing pose of Papa, Mataji and Swamiji adorn the wall just above the southern door of the respective Samadhis.The Goshala is fitted with ceiling fans to keep the cows cool, and most of the time, recordings of Ramnam by Swami Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai are played.The goal was to provide a symbolic presentation of the likhit japa note-books to Pujya Mataji on 29 September 1955, on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebration of her renunciation.